Whirligig
Whirligig was a lightweight thwackbot that was built by Team Nightmare and driven by Jeremy Franklin which competed in the final three seasons of BattleBots. It was originally a robot similar to Spaz with a spiked arm, but it was rebuilt for Season 4.0 to be a cylindrical robot with two thwacking flails strung through the wheels as well as a small front wedge. It was then revised once more for Season 5.0 to make the two arms static. Whirligig did decently in battle, reaching the round of 16 in Season 5.0. The Season 5.0 version was 6 feet 8 inches wide. The original Whirligig competed in BotBash 2000, where it was found to be at the weight limit and had to fight without a weapon. A second Whirligig was built for Season 3.0 with the same design, this time armed with a 2 foot long arm with spikes on. Robot History Season 3.0 Whirligig first fought Snap Dragon. At the beginning of the fight, Whirligig started spinning and tore some of Snap Dragon's decorative covering. Whirligig kept on pounding and it's spike got stuck in Snap Dragons side, but Snap Dragon escaped. After several minutes of this, the match came to an end and Whirligig won on a 34-11 judge's decision. This victory put Whirligig into the TV rounds, where it faced Recycler. In the match, Whirligig slammed into Recycler several times, and eventually Recycler stopped moving. Whirligig won and advanced to the round of 32, where it faced Shrike. At the start of the match, Whirligig started slamming against the barely moving Shrike several times and hit one of Shrike's wheels. This hit immobilized the drive motor and Shrike started spinning in circles and Whirligig started pounding the top shell of Shrike. However, Whirligig drove itself straight into the pulverizer which started pounding Whirligig's right wheel, as well as turning off the master power switch in the process. Shrike won by KO and Whirligig was eliminated from the tournament. Whirligig wasn't finished, however, as it participated the lightweight consolation rumble at the end of the tournament. It's unknown how well it performed but it did lose out to The Crusher and Reaper. Season 4.0 Whirligig's first match of Season 4.0 was Rim Tin Tin. In the beginning, Whirligig swung its hammers straight into Rim Tin Tin. Rim Tin Tin came back and kept getting whacked by the hammers of Whirligig. Rim Tin Tin pushed Whirligig against the arena wall and lifted Whirligig. This match continued with more spinning and pushing, and then the match was over. Whirligig won the match on a 26-19 judge's decision and advanced to the next preliminary round, where it faced Manic Aggressive 2.0. Both robots moved to the center of the BattleBox and Whirligig began hitting Manic Aggressive 2.0 with it's hammers. Manic Aggressive 2.0 stopped moving, and Whirligig was declared the winner by KO. Whirligig advanced to the round of 64 against Firestorm. Both robots charged and missing each other constantly and Whirligig started hitting Firestorm with its hammers, sending it off-course. Eventually, Firestorm charged at Whirligig and missed, lodging its front wedge bars under the arena spike strip, trapping itself. Whirligig approached and hit Firestorm a couple times, but was unable to free it. The referees counted Firestorm out and Whirligig won the match by TKO. This win put Whirligig to the TV rounds, where it faced Carnage Raptor. Both robots are hesitant in approaching the other and Carnage Raptor nudges Whirligig with its axe head. Whirligig goes into a spin and hits Carnage Raptor a couple of times. As Carnage Raptor escapes, Whirligig stopped spinning and Carnage Raptor begins spinning. Carnage Raptor then delivers a strong blow to Whirligig. Both robots were moving around the arena and Whirligig drives over it's own flail. After getting itself straightened out, Whirligig goes into a spin, barely missing Carnage Raptor. Carnage Raptor decides to go into a spin of its own and neither robot made contact with each other. Whirligig tries to readjust and Carnage Raptor hits Whirligig's flail with its axe. Carnage Raptor has its axe underneath Whirligig and pushes it to the killsaws. Whirligig is pushed off by the killsaws popping up, but the debris being shot out is caused by Carnage Raptor's axe. Whirligig slams itself into Carnage Raptor while Carnage Raptor tries to get away from the killsaws without being hit again. Whirligig drives itself over the killsaws and it was moving around in the blue square. Carnage Raptor gets its axe under Whirligig again and pushes it onto the entrance ramp. Whirligig escapes by driving over the spike wall and into the pulverizer. After Whirligig was able to escape a few narrow blows from the pulverizer, Carnage Raptor gets underneath Whirligig and pushes it under the pulverizer again. The pulverizer landed on Whirligig's body and Whirligig stopped moving as the impact knocked one of the radio connections loose. . Carnage Raptor backs off and Whirligig's wheel was being pounded by the pulverizer. At this point, Jeremy Franklin was tapping out and the referee blows his whistle and shouts "Tap-out, tap-out, tap-out" into his microphone, but the pulverizer kept hitting Whirligig. This kept on going because Peter Lambertson was too busy looking at the audience and making a show out of pressing the pulverizer button to notice anything that was going on. Finally, Pete stopped pressing the pulverizer button and Whirligig has a flat tire now. The buzzer sounded and Carnage Raptor won by KO. This meant that Whirligig was eliminated from the tournament. Whirligig wasn't finished, however, as it participated the lightweight consolation rumble at the end of the tournament. After hitting Scrap Daddy Surplus and Mouser Classic Mecha-Catbot at the beginning, Whirligig moved to the center of the BattleBox and started spinning it's flails into Herr Gepoünden, who was also spinning. Whirligig stopped spinning and nudges Bulldog with one of it's flails. Shortly after, Whirligig stopped moving entirely and the motionless Whirligig was being pushed around by Dr. Inferno Jr. and Scrap Daddy Surplus. The immobile Whirligig was pushed against the spikestrip and the time ran out moments after. Dr. Inferno Jr. and The Crusher were declared the winners of the lightweight consolation rumble and Whirligig lost overall. Season 5.0 For reaching the TV rounds of Season 4.0, Whirligig was allowed to skip the preliminary rounds of Season 5.0, where it eventually fought Trilobot. Whirligig won on a close 24-21 judge's decision and advanced to the round of 16, where it faced Code:BLACK. Code:BLACK won by KO and Whirligig was eliminated from the tournament. Whirligig couldn't compete in the lightweight royal rumble because the rest of the rumbles were canceled due to an accident with Nightmare during the heavyweight consolation rumble. Wins/Losses * Wins: 6 * Losses: 3 Trivia * The original Whirligig made a cameo appearance in Battlebots Season 1.0, behind the Gray Matter team. Category:BattleBots Competitors Category:Lightweight Robots Category:Robots that fought on television Category:Thwackbots Category:Robots with more Wins than Losses Category:Invertible Robots Category:Consolation Rumble Participants Category:Robots armed with Chain Flails Category:Robots from California